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May 18, 2013

FROM BARRON'S COLLEAGUES

Rhonda Brammer, Contributing editor

The Barron's magazine I joined in the early 1980s, back in the days of ticker tape and martini lunches, was an astonishing place—chockablock with talent: fast, graceful, savvy writers like Jim Grant, Peter Brimelow, and Kate Welling. And at the helm was the inimitable Alan Abelson, the man whose column, Up & Down Wall Street, had single-handedly transformed staid financial journalism into rare verbal art. Biting and brilliant, his columns mixed borscht-belt humor and Shakespearean allusions with zingers from Twain, Mencken, and Wilde—though Alan's own one-liners often trumped them all.

Me? I was a kid from Idaho, then just a couple of years out of Columbia J-School. I wasn't a very graceful writer, and I sure as heck wasn't fast.

Still, I was summoned.

Alan had read a cover story I'd written for a small magazine called Financial World that questioned the accounting of a highflying outfit, Baldwin-United. He'd decided he wanted to hire me on the basis of that one story. When I appeared in his office for my interview, I tried to explain that he was likely making a mistake—that the story had taken me forever to write. He seemed perversely delighted, insisting that skeptical stories took time and that he'd give me time.

Which he did. Over the next 2½ decades, I was able to write about financial shenanigans of all stripes—everything from the "aggressive" accounting of a Big Board company (whose shares lost a third of their value on the first trading day after the story) to a network of stock manipulators (who drew the ire of regulators and closed up shop) to an unscrupulous health-care outfit whose fraudulent machinations imperiled the lives of its patients (and whose stock virtually disappeared).

Alan was fearless, emboldened by an astonishing intelligence, uncanny market savvy, and extraordinarily good judgment. Pure and simple, he was a genius at what he did. And when companies howled, he was there for his writers—a veritable pit bull.

Alan's ingrained skepticism, of course, was only part of the story. He also had a great eye for undervalued companies, a keen interest in unearthing undiscovered gems for his loyal readers. He delighted in perusing the new Standard & Poor's sheets before they were filed away in binders. He encouraged us to do our own research, to pick up the phone and talk with companies to find story ideas. His enthusiasm, I confess, was infectious—a big reason, no doubt, I later began a column called Sizing Up Small-Caps.

Over the years, Alan and I became great pals. We'd have dinner in Manhattan. We'd talk about the market, and maybe because we'd both studied literary stuff way back when, we'd also talk about books—poetry, lots of fiction. Not everybody knew, I suppose, that Alan read the Times Literary Supplement and the London Review of Books just as carefully as he did the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Alan was charming, complex, wise, irreverent, witty, kind. For 30 years, he was a steadfast friend.

Already, I miss him terribly.

Richard Rescigno, Former managing editor

On Tuesday, Oct. 20, 1987, I walked into Barron's offices around 7 a.m., eager to discuss how we would handle the disastrous events of the previous day. On Monday, the Dow industrials had collapsed by 22.6%—still their worst one-day percentage rout—and investors, on paper, had lost a staggering $500 billion.

I knew that our editor, Alan Abelson, already would be in. Alan always arrived before the staff and left after we had departed. Maybe he had a secret apartment somewhere in the World Financial Center, our headquarters at the time. Or maybe he regularly got up at 5 a.m. and went home at 11 p.m., as was the case.

This morning, two people were in his office. The other was Warren Phillips, then the CEO of Dow Jones, parent of both Barron's and The Wall Street Journal. Phillips, who rarely visited our premises, was quietly questioning Alan about what would happen next, whether the U.S. was in for another long skein of misery like the one that followed the Great Crash of 1929, and whether Wall Street's woes would affect the economy.

I awkwardly stood in the doorway, listening, before excusing myself to let the two continue their conversation alone. Before I did, I heard Alan say the word that would become the fulcrum of our coverage over the next few weeks: "opportunity."

Alan was convinced that Black Monday had unjustly brutalized the shares of many worthwhile companies and that those who could seize the opportunities that surely would emerge would reap a bonanza—exactly what happened. Normally, Barron's attempts to do two things: point investors toward undervalued stocks and warn them away from overvalued ones. But in the six months after the crash, the emphasis clearly was on the former.

In that period, Alan Abelson was an unmitigated, raging bull.

That Alan ever was so optimistic about stocks might surprise anyone who started reading the Up & Down Wall Street column in the 1990s or later, years in which his vision grew darker and his critics sometimes flayed him as a perma-bear who ignored the positives and gleefully looked for the next crisis.

In reality, when he felt optimism was warranted, he could embrace it. But, like all of us, he had strengths and weaknesses. While he often was wrong on the market's direction, as he acknowledged on occasion, he almost always was right on the merits of individual stocks and the feats and foibles of individuals. With an enormous knowledge of financial history, he grew increasingly skeptical of Wall Street as the years went by, even while remaining immensely fond of many of the honest people who labor there. It's hard, after all, to wear a smiley face as the never-ending parade of Boeskys, Milkens, and Madoffs passes by.

In truth, Alan was a realist, not a perma-bear, and reality can be difficult to handle. I worked with him for more than 30 years, and I'll always fondly recall his brand of realism, coated in wit, encapsulated in flowing prose, and delivered week after week.

Kate Welling, Former managing editor

There's some small, albeit not very comforting, irony to be found amid the grief and outpourings of mourning occasioned by the news that Alan Abelson, my old boss, mentor, and buddy, has passed from this vale of tears.

Incongruously private and reticent for a man who toiled on the front lines of financial journalism for nearly a half-century (and who, for a time, even got up before the crack of dawn in a valiant if ultimately quixotic attempt to imbue morning television with a scintilla of financial savvy), Alan would be acutely discomforted by the effusions of encomiums that his death has inspired—richly warranted though each and every word of praise is.

Good-humored self-deprecation was infinitely more Alan's style. As in: "If you laid all the columns I've written for Barron's end to end, you'd have the world's longest argument against killing trees." Alan penned that little gem back in 1996, when he was a mere 30 years into his 47-year stint writing the magazine's flagship column "under the excruciating pressure of having to fill the space in the shortest possible time it takes to reach the first Friday night martini."

I had the extraordinary privilege to share a goodly number of those libations, not to mention that unceasing deadline pressure, working at Alan's elbow through much of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, as he applied the alchemy of his special genius to whatever moment those theaters of the absurd known as the markets, Washington, or the world served up in any given week.

The quintessential newsman, (or, as he preferred, "ink-stained wretch"), Alan was blessed with razor-sharp journalistic instincts; congenital skepticism; a brilliant, impeccably rational and analytical mind; wit that put any rapier to shame, and a preternatural felicity with the mother tongue. In a business not famously distinguished for intellectual depth or, alas, unswerving character, Alan possessed both in spades.

Not the least of the benefits of my long tutelage was an invaluable education in ethics, grit, tenacity, loyalty, markets, reporting, research (and more research), and the sheer joy of an unexpectedly elegant turn of phrase. Watching as Alan spun both quotidian dross and the raw material of financial history into sheer journalistic gold, with what appeared to most of his fans as the greatest of ease, was nothing short of a dream apprenticeship.

When lawsuits flew, Alan, along with Barron's redoubtable long-time publisher Bob Bleiberg, fired back scrappily and ferociously (respectively)—and never lost a case.

Let it also be stated for the record that, widespread rumors to the contrary, Alan was anything but a perma-bear. Evidence of that abounds in the thousands of columns he wrote; the reams of positive pieces he commissioned for the magazine, and, most graphically, in the rip-snorting bull he plastered on the cover of Barron's Aug. 23, 1982, issue, bringing a cacophony of bearish derision down on our heads at the very beginning of the late, great bull market.

Those of us who were lucky enough to find Alan are now left bereft far too soon, despite his 87 vital years, with a profound aching void. Yet we are immeasurably enriched for having known, read, and learned from him. We are Alan's legacy. We can pay him no higher respect than to continue to refract the crazy-quilt worlds of economics, markets, and American life through the wry, skeptical lenses that he helped us polish.

And then, perchance, he will rest in peace.

Bill Alpert, Senior editor

Don't look at those pictures of Alan Abelson wearing a wicked smile. Find the ones with the baleful stare, where he's daring anyone to con his Barron's readers. That's how I remember him.

I snuck through the doors of this place in 1984, when a spike in staff turnover led the magazine to drop its hiring standards. Didn't know much 'bout investing or Wall Street (as they still tell me). I felt lucky to land any job in journalism. Almost 30 years later, I remain amazed at my luck in wandering into Barron's—all because of the great place Alan made it.

He had also arrived young and made a career here, starting in 1956, the year I was born. Alan was part of that greatest generation of New York Jews, who—endowed with nothing but their industry and wit—poured out of City College in the first half of the 20th century to make an outsize mark on American life. His public-school cohort surely ranks as one of the most successful talent finds in human history.

Alan transformed this paper from a dreary trade rag into a modern, democratic magazine for investors. In its investment niche, Barron's was part of the same movement that inspired Consumer Reports to identify unsafe cars and the Washington Post to expose crooked pols. While the U.S. stock market was the biggest and fairest on the planet, there remained enough schemes and downright inefficiencies to supply Alan with endless material for a column addressing the swelling crowd of professional and amateur stockpickers. Pause, if you will, to marvel at the sophistication of a society that enables a man to find his calling as the writer of funny stock-market exposés.

In the early days, Alan's Up & Down Wall Street column started on the front of Barron's and jumped for page after page, surrounded by eager advertisers. After an opening monologue, there would be a half-dozen fully reported items. He tapped me to join the small crew he trusted to report his market-moving pieces. Looking at those now-yellowed clippings, I still remember the thrill of handing Alan material for his thunderbolts.

Undeterred by hucksters' libel suits, he encouraged us to pursue our own investigative journalism with a steeliness that persists in the magazine today.

I subbed for Alan on his column only once, and readers will attest to how hard it was for anyone to match his talents. His was a gift as rare as those songwriters who can produce both good words and good music. Reporting was the lyric, his clever writing the melody. The magazine's voice is another of Alan's legacies. In those years, when he also edited feature stories, he allowed—or inserted—a breezy tone that showed readers we respected their intelligence and were awed by none of Wall Street's fluted columns and coffered ceilings.

For Alan and the rest of us, it was axiomatic that company insiders and the securities industry were out to unload stock at the highest possible price. Barron's was one of the few equalizers that could reliably protect Jane and John Q. Public. Although Alan and his favorite money managers highlighted many stocks that seemed unduly cheap, he will be remembered for his bearish growlings. So be it. The bulls are overrepresented. And knowing when to sell is a talent that will always distinguish the best investors.

We carry on. But, to be sure, you'll miss him.

Joe Queenan, Former writer

When the barbarians were at the gates back in the late 1980s, RJR Nabisco started making plans to move its headquarters from Dixie to New York. Alan wondered how much the move would cost. So he told me to call Moishe's Moving and get a ballpark estimate on packing up the entire company and moving it lock, stock, and barrel to another part of the country. I did; Moishe's guys were very helpful.

That is the way I remember Alan. He was irreverent. He was impish. He had a way of looking at Wall Street that nobody else ever did. He also had a way of making business journalism original and inspired and fun. And Alan could write.

Genius is the ability to do something that nobody else could ever do. Alan Abelson was a genius.

Alan Abelson, crusading columnist, in the 1970s.

Pauline Yuelys, Research director

When I arrived at Barron's in the 1980s (planning to stay for only six months), I was intimidated by this larger-than-life figure. So I quietly observed, while learning what financial journalism was all about. Alan was fearless, and he expected the same from those around him. If he smelled fear in you, he would see how close to the edge he could push you. He was always testing you. I would watch him tactfully critique, shall we say, stories that I knew fell far below his standards. Yet, if someone was experiencing personal difficulty, he would offer any help he could. And if a reporter had a run-in with a company, Alan was there. He always had your back.

In recent years, when he worked from home, I would visit him on Christmas Eve. It became our tradition. He would pretend that he was delighted to receive my cookies, but we both knew why I was there. I went because I missed his insight and his humor. We would talk for hours about the magazine, the market, the weather—you name it. When it was time to leave, he would say, "It was great to see you, honey." I will always remember his smiling eyes as he watched me drive off. For the record, the word honey usually has a negative connotation for me, but never from Alan. I will miss my Christmas Eve visits with Alan.

R.I.P., Alan, you've earned it.

Jaye Scholl, Former writer

Alan Abelson's first rule was "Never bore the reader." That's also why he almost never talked about himself. Seeking a clue to his originality, I spent a few evenings in a storage room at the old offices at 22 Cortlandt St. in New York. Long, gray metal bookshelves held stacks of Barron's, going back decades, the pages yellowed and brittle. The search started in 1956, the year Alan joined Barron's. There were some bylined articles, and then Alan's first column, which was called The World at Work. He covered labor, as quaint as that sounds today. The writing was bright and informed, but it was still mostly polite—there was little hint of what was to come when he started writing Up & Down Wall Street in 1966. Maybe we could all write like Alan after a few years at Barron's, I remember hoping.

Many journalists who worked with Alan think of him as a mentor, but does anyone remember him ever explaining anything financial? He taught skepticism. Articles were often launched by three words—"Might be interesting"—that Alan would scribble on an anonymous letter or on S&P sheets containing company profiles. He would drop those on the floor outside writers' offices late at night or early in the morning. Then he would beam at the possibilities. Unless it was a Friday.

On Fridays, Alan always arrived at the office at 6:30 a.m. The white Levolor blinds in his glass-enclosed office were down and closed tight by the time the rest of us got there. For the next 12 hours, Alan would think and write, breaking for a sandwich and a soda at 1 p.m. He never rewrote his copy. At 7 p.m. he gave his column to a few trusted colleagues to read for typos, and by 7:30, it was on its way to the printing plant.

Alan was a fearless editor, but he could be unnerving to reporters. Most editors tone a story down. Alan made them harder-hitting. That was another of Alan's unspoken rules: Even-handedness in the pursuit of scoundrels is not a virtue.

It wasn't always low-level terror working with Alan. There were invitations to go to court with him while he defended Barron's in a libel suit. We took a Town Car to Rockefeller Center together to get deposed. He saved the best letters to the editor to read in the late afternoon.

Here's one he kept:

Dear Mr. Abelson,

I'm sick and tired of your offhand comments that knock down stock values 10%-20% in a single trade. Things are bad enough already. Lay off, you son-of-a-bitch.

Sincerely,

A Pissed-Off Investor

There's only one Alan Abelson. Goodbye, old friend.

Shirley A. Lazo, Executive assistant and writer

Little did I know when Alan hired me as his executive assistant that he had started me down the path to a stimulating, meaningful, and fun career that is approaching 45 years. He was a superb boss. He was also a patient mentor, giving me the opportunity to write a weekly column on dividends. Above all, he was a forever friend. I will remember and miss him always.

Robert Sack, Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; former outside counsel for Dow Jones

Alan was, among so many other things, the best client ever. Uniquely among any witness I ever dealt with, he could safely be let loose at a deposition and come out a winner. My favorite: He had been publicly accused of conspiring with short sellers. (What else is new?) Opposing counsel, a fine lawyer, seasoned, spent several days in a White & Case conference room taking Alan's deposition. He led Alan through a discussion of each column Alan had written in the then-recent past. Alan explained them all.

And then, the lawyer asked (as I remember it) whether the subject of and views expressed in Alan's columns were chosen at random. Clever. If Alan said yes, then he seemed to be a hip-shooter firing weekly at targets of opportunity. If he said no, then it suggested that, at the very least, the public could figure out in advance what he was going to write about, what he was likely to say, and then trade on that information in advance of publication.

Alan's answer: "Well, Mr. [lawyer], it's kind of like physics: There is a discrete whole with a lot of random electrons running around. If you look at any single column of mine, you could say that, sure, it is chosen at random. But if you read my columns week after week, month after month, you will find in them an overall theme, a point of view, and a coherent philosophy."

At an informal lunch with my colleague Bob Owen immediately afterward, Alan smiled and said, "I was considering trying to slip in something about Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, but I thought better of it."

For that small reason and so many larger ones, we miss our dear friend and comrade-in-arms mightily.

Teresa Vozzo, Deputy research director

I can't remember much about my first day on the job at Barron's. I look back on that day, Aug. 12, 1999 (yes, I know I'm still a rookie by Barron's standards), and recall one vision—meeting Alan Abelson.

It wasn't even a proper meeting. No "welcome aboard." No pleasantries. Pauline Yuelys, our research director, introduced me as the new fact checker. Alan and I locked eyes, and he simply nodded his head at me. I think he almost wanted to say, "Prove yourself, kiddo."

And kiddo I became. Over the years, I would assist Alan in getting research for his columns. He would come over to my desk, sneak up behind me, and say, "What's doin', kiddo?" We would exchange a few words about life, work, and the like. Then he would proceed to rattle off a list of requests—a research report, a regulatory filing, or on occasion, a request to call this or that analyst for information.

The Alan Abelson I knew was very patient. Anyone who says otherwise didn't really know him. Alan taught me many things. I learned about the markets. I made contacts by doing research interviews for him. Most of all, I learned many, many vocabulary words by fact-checking his columns each week.

Alan was a human dictionary. Growing up in Brooklyn, I had never come across some words that he used in his writing. Again, he was patient. He would never say, "Look it up." He would explain what a word meant and why he used it in a particular sentence. Until I met Alan, the longest word I could ever imagine was fuhgeddaboudit.

In recent years, during which Alan worked from home, we would still talk about what was going on in the office. We would joke about some hedge-fund manager going to jail or another celebrity busted for drunken driving. But he would end the conversation with his list of requests. If I didn't get back to him within a couple of hours, my phone would ring, and Alan would be asking: "What's doin', kiddo?"

I miss Alan. My only comfort is that I was one of the privileged few to work with him directly. It was an honor to know him. I smile each time I think of him, and I hope he is smiling down on me from heaven. Rest in peace, kiddo.

Eric Savitz, Former writer

One of the lessons I learned from Alan Abelson was to jump right into a story. Pitch from the stretch, he'd say. So here goes: Alan was my hero; I'll miss him terribly.

Alan hired me to work at Barron's in 1988. At the time, I was a 26-year-old, slightly bored wire-service reporter. It was the break of a lifetime. I eventually spent 19 years at the magazine, including a fascinating stretch doing research for his Up & Down Wall Street column.

I loved working on Alan's column. Sometimes late in the week, when he'd started to think about that issue's missive, Alan would come sauntering down the hall, clutching a pink telephone-message slip with the name and number of some tipster, and hand it over with a wave of the hand. "See what he wants," he'd say. And I'd start dialing.

Sometimes, I'd end up talking to a nut case. And sometimes, I'd get a great lead that would turn into an item for Alan's column—for which he would generously credit me in print.

Alan edited some of the best magazine stories I ever wrote, but he did so through his own oddball process. Often, I would stay up late, writing into the wee hours at my desk on the night before a story was due. Eventually, I'd run out of steam, then print a copy of the story on an ancient sprocket-fed dot-matrix printer, and slide the fan-folded masterpiece under his office door before shuffling home.

I did that because Alan accomplished a lot of his editing early in the morning, particularly during the years in which he made daily appearances on NBC News at Sunrise to talk about the market. That show was on at a hideously early hour—sunrise! I don't think I saw it even once. But the result was that Alan was in our office at the World Financial Center at least a couple of hours before the next arrival. Generally, by the time I arrived, he had dropped off the edited version of my story in the metal bin outside my door. I'd pick it up gingerly, hoping for a "swell"—Alan's highest word of praise—but occasionally seeing instead the dreaded words "see me," which meant a painful rewrite.

Alan knew everyone on the Street, and almost everything about the Street. And he generously shared both his Rolodex and his deep knowledge. He also entrusted me with access to one of his crown jewels: his endless rows of filing cabinets with decades worth of story notes, phone numbers, and documents from his many years writing Up & Down Wall Street. It was like having access to the back rooms in the Vatican Library, where all the secrets are kept.

While many will remember Alan for his perpetual skeptical bent about the stock market, I will always remember a man who was a brilliant writer, an ingenious wit, a wonderful reporter, and just a genuinely fascinating guy to be around. I feel privileged to have known him, and the financial-reporting world was lucky to have him around for so many years. Up & Down Wall Street, the world is a lesser place than it used to be.

Floyd Norris, Former writer

Alan was a brilliant writer and editor to whom I owe a lot. But the single thing I most remember was how quick he could be.

Not long after I became the Trader columnist in 1983, I was in a cab with him and remarked in amazement that my predecessor on the column had joined Barron's in 1959. That, I told Alan, was "the year I got out of the sixth grade."

"Oh," he replied. "How long were you in?"

Gigi Mahon, Former writer

I was three years out of college when I arrived at Barron's, having had three jobs in three years, improbably ranging from positions at Mademoiselle Magazine to Goldman Sachs. I had applied to The Wall Street Journal, but its managing editor, Fred Taylor, sent my resume to Alan, who called me. He said, "What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like Wall Street?" He hired me.

If I were to cut to the chase, I would cut to the final scene of Casablanca, when Humphrey Bogart says to the character played by Claude Rains, "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

A beautiful friendship is what we had. Alan became my mentor, a dearest, trusted friend. We were Librans, kindred spirits, in love with journalism and words and their import and their nuance. Their ability to right wrong. Once, when I was stuck for a lead, Alan said, "Maybe start with a quote?" I replied, "I will never start with anyone's words but my own." He so got that.

Sometimes, I would fight him on a story I didn't think was justified. He told me I was the most difficult person he ever met, but the most worth it! And if my reasoning was good enough, he never made me write anything I didn't believe.

I dedicated my first book "To Alan Abelson, Editor and Friend." I didn't tell him in advance, but I gave him the first copy. The same day, the biggest bunch of roses ever arrived at my door. The card read, simply, "Editor and Friend."

I knew an Alan that few knew. I saw him cry, and I saw him deliciously silly. The Alan that a dopey few accused of consorting with short sellers was the Alan who was a financial Don Quixote, a true romantic, pissed off at the idea of bad guys getting away with bad stuff.

When he became Barron's editor, an Andy Hardy spirit of "Hey kids, let's get a barn and put on a show" pervaded the newsroom, or part of it. There was so much to be done. We worked hard, and late, but we had fun, and we laughed constantly, at times became naughty truants. On a torrid summer day, we might slip away into an air-conditioned theater to see Caddyshack, but then we returned to the office to labor on.

Eventually, however, it wasn't fun. It got political. After 10 years, I left Barron's for New York Magazine. My first story was about a murder. Alan never forgave me for leaving. He didn't take my phone calls, and I gave up.

A couple of years ago, I got up the nerve to try again. We had lunch. Twenty-five years had passed, and as much as I wanted to believe that nothing and nobody had changed, that, of course, could not be true. He seemed frail. We talked for hours as if no years had intervened. We told each other everything. He was dismayed that I was not writing. He could not fathom not writing. At the end of lunch, we hugged, and I said, "Let's not wait another 25 years."

We both knew that was goodbye.

I hope to finish a novel this summer. Would that I had done so in time for him to read it. My loss, God knows. But I am writing now, Alan. I am crying, but I am writing. Goodbye, my editor; goodbye, my friend.

Michael B. Mukasey, Former U.S. attorney general and U.S. district judge, former outside counsel for Dow Jones

Alan Abelson was every lawyer's dream client—a man who loved stomping on gouty toes and who was therefore a magnet for lawsuits (backed by a large corporation that was willing to spend what it took to defend him), and who knew all the best restaurants.

I helped to represent Alan in several lawsuits brought in the late 1970s and early 1980s by corporations that claimed he had falsely tarnished their reputations, and occasionally by plaintiffs who claimed he was leaking information to short sellers. His articles always proved spot-on accurate, and the accusations against him always proved a harvest of sour grapes, so the job at hand for a lawyer was easy and, because it involved spending time with Alan, a delight. And the lawsuits themselves often provided sources of additional fodder for his columns.

He claimed to hate lawyers, and to tolerate us as a necessary evil. But to be even a necessary evil in the life of a man with his clarity of mind and deceptive geniality of style was a rare privilege.

Deborah Lohse, Former intern

I worked as a student intern at Barron's in the 1980s, and one of my jobs was slicing open Alan's voluminous mail. One day, he received an envelope with an oozing brown substance in it, so I insisted he come over and open that one himself. He enjoyed my appalled reaction as much as he did having inspired that reader to such extremes.

I watched him react with cool and quiet confidence when told that influential people were attacking his column, and saw the small smile he'd get when someone who clearly hadn't thought through the issue as thoroughly as he went on a tirade. Usually, a short word or phrase from him would stop them in their tracks.

Even as a student, I adopted some of that swagger when dealing with irate callers to Barron's, where I helped answer phones.

I carried some of his lessons into my journalism career. Just because someone who is louder and seemingly more certain of an issue is in your face doesn't mean you need to accept their brown ooze. My condolences to his family. He was a great journalist and a unique man.

Robert Barker, Former writer

So many memories of Alan Abelson:

Of him greeting me on my first day at Barron's. "Welcome aboard, and all that [expletive deleted]," he said. "Where are you from?"

"California."

"Well, we won't hold that against you."

Of the day at the Barron's copy desk when I had uttered one lame comment too many and Alan eloquently sent a pretzel sailing toward my head.

The most persistent memories, though, are of sweating over how Alan would critique any investment story I was working on at Barron's and still, after I had left, for another two decades elsewhere. In financial journalism, his editor's eye proved so sharp that, even today, it remains unrivaled.

Jim Ottaway Jr., Former Dow Jones executive and director

One of my favorite jobs as senior vice president of Dow Jones from 1988 to 2003 was to help Barron's editors and managers with annual budgets and major management decisions, and to defend their reporting and opinions from attacks, usually from executives or companies that had been accurately and fairly criticized.

One of my most difficult chores was trying to convince Alan Abelson 20 years ago, when he was 67, that he should slow down a bit, drop his managerial duties, and simply concentrate on his Up & Down Wall Street column.

I think he was happy, over the ensuing 20 years, to focus on his market-moving column, carrying out the mission he had set for Barron's—to tell its readers which stocks were undervalued and which were overvalued.

Alan was a master of satire, flaying policies, politicians, and people in the business world who he thought were full of baloney. His innate journalistic skepticism, and his pessimism, learned from experience in the marketplace, led him to be criticized as a friend of short sellers. But I surveyed Barron's periodically and found that he assigned more stories about, and expressed more opinions on, stocks he viewed as undervalued than overvalued.

In fact, Alan moved more stock prices up than down during his amazing 47 years of writing his column.

Alan Abelson was also a great teacher. Teaching by example, he inspired many of America's best business journalists, as can be seen from the tributes in this section from graduates of his newsroom. We shall not see his like again.

Whether it was serendipity or destiny that directed me to Barron's and its editors—Bob Bleiberg, Alan Abelson, Steve Anreder—in mid-1968, my front-page debut, a story titled "Dirty Pooling," had a profound effect on my career as a teacher, writer, and certified public accountant.

Through scores of years, Alan regularly vetted my submissions to Barron's, up through an Oct. 3, 2011, article on the hospital company HCA that I co-authored with my daughter, Leonore Briloff. Over the years, Alan and I had to respond to many critical attacks, including a libel action filed by Saul Steinberg's Reliance Insurance against Barron's and me, following my July 1976 article on the company's accounting. In September 1977, we won a summary judgment in U.S. District Court on all issues.

The judge, Charles L. Brieant, expressed high regard for the standards that guide Barron's financial journalism. In one opinion related to the case, he wrote, "Investigative reporting is not limited to the impeachment of presidents or the exposure of licentious congressmen. The public interest is served equally when reporters find a 'Deep Throat' in the executive suite...."

I will miss the occasional telephone conversations in which Alan and I would consider the political, social, economic, and personal matters of the day. And I will miss him.

Steven Anreder, Former writer

Alan and I worked together for almost a quarter-century. You don't work closely with a guy for so long without getting to know him. His wit and writing aside, he had a keen insight into markets and the world of business.

He, Bob Bleiberg, Barron's editor at the time, and I endured a number of legal challenges together, but we always came out well, winning all of them and in our way enshrining the cause of press freedom. With those guys at the helm, Barron's became the world-class business and financial weekly it is today, and set a new journalistic standard for business reporting.

That's a great epitaph for my old buddy.

FROM WALL STREET FRIENDS

Ben Stein Actor and writer

There is a permanent void now in financial journalism that can never be filled. Alan Abelson was brilliant, insightful, and above all, fearless.

When I came to him with my first stories about the questionable ethics of management leveraged buyouts, especially Metromedia's by John Kluge, Alan was all over the whole subject. We hit a lot of them pretty hard. He was unafraid of the biggest names in finance. While other major publications got totally suckered by junk bonds and Drexel Burnham Lambert, Alan encouraged me to go after them hammer and tong. When their lawyers threatened to sue, Alan said, "Bring it on. We can't wait." He was never awed by Wall Street money, helped the whole world invest better and more sensibly, and helped millions of us have at least a shot at a decent financial life.

Alan was properly scornful of my mawkishness and sentimentality, as a hard-boiled journalist should be. But I can tell you I write this, at the age of 58, through bitter tears. His loss is unbearable.

David A. Levy Chairman, The Jerome Levy Forecasting Center

Please accept my condolences for the loss of your incomparable colleague, Alan Abelson. I am doubly saddened—as a great fan of his work, and because he had close ties to my family going back three-quarters of a century. My father, S. Jay Levy, and uncle, Leon Levy, were schoolmates of his at Townsend Harris and later City College. Both valued his friendship, intellect, and unparalleled wit throughout their lives, and spoke of him with the highest regard and affection.

I got to know Barron's decades ago by grabbing each issue to read the hilarious openings of Alan's column, but Leon and Jay were quick to stress to me that Alan was more than a brilliant writer and satirist; he was also an equally brilliant analyst—extremely high praise from Leon, who after World War II built one of the greatest research teams on Wall Street. Alan was not only an institution at Barron's and a critical part of its illustrious history, but also an extraordinarily kind and decent human being. We will all miss him.

Mario Gabelli Roundtable member, Chairman and CEO, Gamco Investors

Starting in the late 1960s and through the mid-'70s, I would talk to the financial press frequently about stocks in the areas where I had a core research competency. Alan and I talked often about auto parts.

I sent Alan a letter around January 1979 and attached my report on Chris-Craft. The letter went along the following lines: "Alan, enclosed is my asset play No. 7. It's Chris-Craft. I hope you publish it. First, it's a great value play. Second, my clients are long. Third, and perhaps really No. 1, I understand you pay 'contributors' $50, and I could use the money."

Remember, in the mid- to late-1970s you could buy a taxicab medallion for $35,000 and a seat on the New York Stock Exchange for about the same price.

Alan invited me to lunch at Barron's office at 22 Cortlandt Street. Lo and behold, there were five or six Barron's staffers, including Kate Welling, Larry Armour, and Shirley Lazo, sitting at the table, peppering me with questions as I was peppering my salad.

Somehow, my ideas worked. I was invited to join Barron's Roundtable in January 1980. There were eight of us then. It was a grueling day, that Monday in January (for the other seven members, not for me).

Alan was always up to the challenge of matching our investment ideas with his pointed questions and healthy skepticism. But through it all and the dinner afterward, we, to a person, admired, respected, and enjoyed the day and evening with our orchestra leader.

I have been on the Roundtable for 32 years through rain, snow, subway challenges—and the 'photo shoot'. Alan was the constant. It is hard to fathom that he is gone and that things will change, but I expect the Roundtable will be there and that Alan will be in our thoughts when we gather next year.

Best to a friend. He will be missed.

Jim Rogers Roundtable member

I just hope we all have such long, productive, insightful lives! I learned the business from Alan as much as from anyone. I started reading him religiously early on Saturday mornings and was always blown away by the things he revealed. He really taught me how the business worked.

Facing his questions on the Roundtable for a couple of decades was always a highlight for me. I wonder if we will ever have a journalist like him again.

Doug Kass Founder and president, Seabreeze Partners Management

It was early 1992. I was still recovering from a July 1990 harness-racing injury that left me in a wheelchair and a full-body cast. I was going stir-crazy at home and decided to write a research report on Marvel Entertainment Group, a recently minted initial public offering majority-owned by Ron Perelman.

I had been reading Alan Abelson's column in Barron's since the early 1970s, when I was an M.B.A. student at the Wharton School. I dutifully read Barron's by 7:00 a.m. each Saturday, and I have been running to buy it every Saturday since. I decided to show my critical analysis of Marvel to Alan.

Upon its completion, and when I could physically leave my New York City apartment, I ventured into a van with my nurse and went to Alan's office on the 16th floor of the Dow Jones building in downtown Manhattan.

I had never met Alan—and I had no appointment.

I wheeled up to the receptionist (with exterior fixation rods in my left leg and still in a full-body cast) and asked if I could meet with Alan Abelson. I had a critical analysis on Marvel Entertainment, I told her. The receptionist asked if I had scheduled an appointment, and I replied no. She told me that Mr. Abelson only saw people by appointment and most certainly wouldn't see someone who had come in off the street.

Fortunately for me, Alan was walking out of the men's room near the elevator bank and passed me on his way back into his office. I appeared to be in rough shape—I suppose I was—and I imagine that elicited some pity from him. He asked, rather briskly and annoyingly, what I wanted. Alan said he would give me 10 minutes (no more) and to proceed into his office.

I started by praising him, telling him how devoted a reader I was. But he summarily cut me short. "Get down to the [expletive deleted] reason you are here; I don't have all day," he said.

I explained that I had written an analysis of Marvel Entertainment Group, then trading near $70 a share after a public offering at $16.50, and asked if he had ever heard of the company. He grinned and pointed to the prospectus for the Marvel IPO on his office table. It was clear he was already doing work on the company. Our meeting lasted less than 10 minutes. He asked me for my home telephone number and said that he would get back to me.

This happened on a Wednesday afternoon. At 9 o'clock that evening, Alan called my home and said he thought my story would make an interesting cover for that weekend's Barron's. I was in shock. I mean, are you kidding? The next morning, I received a call from a Barron's fact checker, and the rest, as they say, is history.

That Saturday morning, my story, "Pow! Smash! Ker-plash!—High-Flying Marvel Comics May Be Headed for a Fall," was featured in Barron's. In December 1996, the debt-laden Marvel filed for bankruptcy protection.

Alan was a wordsmith and dear friend who championed the individual investor. My condolences to Alan's family. I will miss him very much.

Stephanie Pomboy President, MacroMavens

It is with an extremely heavy heart that I say goodbye to my friend Alan Abelson. For those who don't know, Alan was a tireless supporter of me and MacroMavens from our humble beginning 11 years ago. It was an incredible honor to know him. He was the epitome of a "gentleman and scholar," with a passion for this business that was surpassed only by his searing wit. Our industry (and our Saturday mornings) will forever be the lesser for his passing. May he rest in peace.

Joe Rosenberg Chief investment strategist, Loews

I first met Alan in 1962, when he published articles that I contributed. Alan was a great mentor and inspiration to all.

Fred Hickey Roundtable member, editor, the High-Tech Strategist

It has been said that "the pen is mightier than the sword." Possessing a sharp wit and an even sharper pen, Alan Abelson was unsurpassed at carving up all the charlatans, con men, cheerleaders, and frauds who populate Wall Street and beyond. Alan was a knight in shining armor to those who value truth above all.

I started reading Alan's weekly Barron's column over 30 years ago, and like many readers, I never missed a single one. I always knew that whatever the scandal, whatever the outrage of the week, Alan could be counted upon to cleverly and entertainingly put the issue in its proper perspective.

Many years ago—I can't remember exactly when, but it must have been in the late 1990s as the tech mania gathered steam—Alan began to include some of my nonconsensus insights in his column, always accompanied by some kind comments about my work. I will forever be grateful for his many years of support. I will miss all the Thursday phone calls in which we discussed the current state of the technology world and the financial world in general. Two contrarians almost always on the same wavelength—those calls were pure bliss!

In 2004, Alan called to offer me a spot on the famed Barron's Roundtable. To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. It was the greatest honor I've ever received. For the past nine years, I've participated in the Roundtable discussions, and one of the best parts of the experience has been the opportunity to spend time with Alan. It was in these meetings, lunches, and dinners that I learned that the man with the caustic wit was also very kind, always the gentleman, and great fun to be with.

Alan, may you rest in peace. I will forever be in your debt and will never forget how important a part you played in my life.

Marc Faber Roundtable member, director, Marc Faber Limited

Nobody helped my career as much as Alan. In 1989, he published some negative comments I had made about Japanese equities and real estate, and followed up with an interview. At the time, hardly anyone in the U.S. had heard about me. Thereafter, he regularly published some of my views and invited me to join the Roundtable in 2001.

Alan was a very kind, witty, intellectually brilliant, and extremely humble man whose uncompromising integrity and values have regrettably become a rarity in the financial sector. We shall all miss him.

Like all Barron's readers, I thought I knew Alan Abelson. His written style was so distinctive that critical aspects of his personality seemed to literally jump off the page. The wit, the sarcasm, the breadth were always in ample supply.

It wasn't until later, as a regular member of the Barron's Roundtable, that I could fill in some missing details. Alan was a gracious and courteous person (unless he disagreed with you on the markets, but even then...).

His impish humor in print was matched by a winning smile and smiling eyes.

He was well informed, understanding not only the broad landscape but also much of the specific foliage. He didn't suffer fools or those who hadn't done their homework. My family can tell you about the hours spent each January in preparation for the Roundtable. It sometimes felt like going before a difficult professor for graduate-level oral exams—but one who, after the grilling, invited you out for dinner and genuine camaraderie.

Well before the blogging age, Alan was the business journalist who set the standard for simultaneously informing and engaging his readers. He has left a rich legacy in the form of Barron's, a unique publication; opinion columns that will stand the test of time; and warm personal memories for those of us who had the pleasure of knowing him.

For me, Alan wasBarron's. His spirit, intellectual curiosity, sense of humor, and perceptive and sharp questioning kept me and all the other Roundtable participants on our toes during each year's 10-hour interview. Alan disliked his 7 p.m. Friday deadline, so I would call him religiously around 6 p.m. on Fridays from wherever I was in the world (including from telephone booths in Tokyo and Paris).

His column was the first thing everyone read in Barron's, especially in the days when it began on the cover. His turn of phrase was unmatched. For an industry not known for its prose, he stood above the rest. We will all miss him and his pen.

For more than 20 years before joining the Barron's Roundtable, I assiduously read Alan Abelson's Up & Down Wall Street, enjoying his keen intellect, healthy skepticism, and witty prose. Alan was the consummate wordsmith. I clearly remember during the luncheon break of my first Roundtable in 1998 fearfully approaching Alan and telling him, "You are the Russell Baker of finance."

Reminiscing about my association with Alan over the past 15 years, I recall his warm smile, his congenial personality, and his poignant questions. Alan encouraged excellence from both his Barron's colleagues and the Roundtable members. It has been an honor and a privilege to know Alan Abelson and to earn his friendship. He will be sorely missed by all who value intellectual integrity and stylish writing.

I, along with your readers, will greatly miss Alan Abelson! I first read his Up & Down Wall Street column as a 23-year-old, and was instantly hooked by his intelligence, iconoclastic views, and wry wit. Alan adhered to egalitarian beliefs and was a wonderful, encouraging mentor to many women. He offered me a chair at the Roundtable 14 years ago, and it has been my privilege to learn much from him over the years as he led the panel. I remember with admiration his ability to eruditely challenge opinions on a wide range of subjects with his insights and life experience, all the while using his incredible sense of humor to keep us smiling.

Alan Abelson's passing is a great loss, and I count myself among the lucky to have spent a significant amount of time with him. My sincerest condolences to his family.

Alan, as the rookie on the Barron's Roundtable, we only got to know each other late in life, even though I felt like I knew you via your weekly columns. Over the past 35 years, I learned an immense amount about markets and investors from you. Even at your last Roundtable, in January, I was struck by your love of markets and the game of investing. May we all have your curiosity and perspective for as long as you did. Farewell, sir.

Felix Zulauf Roundtable member, president, Zulauf Asset Management

Rarely have I been reading Alan's weekly column without a smile. His understanding of the investment world, politics, and economics, combined with dry wit and skepticism, was not only insightful but also highly entertaining. Alan invited me to the Roundtable discussion in early 1988, and he impressed me ever since with his deep insights into the investment world.

He became a dear friend, and I, like so many others, will miss him dearly.

My Saturday mornings began with Alan Abelson starting in 1971, and now they have ended. We have lost a legend in financial journalism, and he will be missed immensely by me and millions of others. May you find that elusive bull market in heaven, Alan.

Alan was one of the brightest people I have ever met. He possessed an amazing intellect and wrote in a very scholarly way, having wonderful literary skills. I always looked forward to reading his column. He could be extremely witty— almost in a league with Oscar Wilde. I can't imagine doing every month what he did weekly—writing a fresh and insightful column. He had an excellent understanding of the investment process and the psychology of the markets. He understood how industries and companies operated. Some people are good at only the macro level, but he was good at both the macro and micro level, as he was a very thorough researcher.

During the years I spent on the Barron's Roundtable, we'd have dinner and spend most of the day together—he and I and the group of Roundtable participants. I loved those meetings and had a personal fondness for him as a professional and as an individual. He was an enthusiastic and upbeat person. Conversations with Alan were a discussion, never an argument. Alan was a good listener, and I admired that. If he had been a fund manager, I think he would have had an outstanding record because he was flexible, hard-working, and willing to take risks. I will miss him and his column.

Bob Farrell Senior investment adviser, retired, Merrill Lynch

Alan was truly one of a kind. His innate contrarian skepticism, great wit, and unparalleled insight into the Wall Street mind was what made his column so special. He interviewed me many times over the years, which not only helped my career, but enabled us to become good friends. I will really miss him.

Alan M. Newman Editor, Crosscurrents

I'm so jealous of those of you who worked closely with Alan Abelson, knew him personally, and took pride in his considerable skills. Although I spoke with Alan a few times, I never met him, even after constant proddings by my better half to visit Barron's offices and at least spend a few minutes in person with the man who graciously and often quoted my own work in his weekly column. He has my eternal gratitude for allowing me some measure of exposure in an environment ridiculously corrupted by bad advice and bad players.

Thank you for your many years of perceptive commentary, Mr. Abelson. Your words have been heeded. Skepticism is so often the sword of truth, and that weapon needs to be wielded constantly. I will greatly miss your wit and your wisdom.

Barry L. Ritholtz CEO, director of equity research, Fusion IQ

Alan Abelson's dry, sardonic wit made him everyone's first read in the weekly (whether in print or online). He had a unique ability to turn a phrase, capture the zeitgeist in a sentence, and then delightfully disembowel it a phrase or two later. Columbia Journalism Review notes that Abelson spent 57 years at Barron's, and wrote his withering Up & Down Wall Street column from 1966 through February of this year. That is a helluva run, and I am hard-pressed to recall anyone else in the business with a longer or more significant tenure.

We all loved the way Abelson could turn his sharp eye and acid pen on the absurdities of Wall Street, and the systemic ways that financiers labored to separate not just fools, but also good people from their money. He was criticized at times for being too bearish—in the late 1990s and again in the mid-2000s—but in each case, he was proved correct. Besides, a journalist's job is to shine a light on issues of potential importance, not to generate a weekly positive P&L.

I recall my first-ever mention in his column in 2004 or '05. When someone you have admired for so many years says something nice about you (even in passing), it can be overwhelming. At the time I worked at Maxim Group, a sell-side firm with about $5 billion in assets. I remember getting a call from Ed Rose, the firm's general counsel, at home on the weekend, to congratulate me about the mention—which speaks volumes more about Abelson's stature and influence than anything it says about me.

We took in the sad news, knowing the likes of Abelson will never be replaced. Randall W. Forsyth has been doing an excellent job handling the column in Abelson's absence, but I don't envy the task before him, for those are some mighty big shoes to fill.

Steven F. Schwartz Retired stock trader

There are so many ways that Alan has profoundly influenced my life. This is just one.

After so many published letters in numerous newspapers and magazines and, of course, Barron's, I decided to submit one of my stories for publication in September 1986. I dropped it off at the messenger's window at Dow Jones on my way to the stock exchange. Several hours later, my clerk yelled to me.

"Steve, you've got a call."

"Who is it?"

"Alan Abelson."

My heart racing, I ran to the booth and picked up the phone. "Hi Steve, it's Alan Abelson. You dropped off a story this morning."

"And I hope you liked it."

"Oh, it was OK, but I would like to see a different ending."

I dashed uptown to my apartment and typed two new closings. I drove back down to Barron's office building and left them at the same messenger's window.

After waiting several days, the anxiety was overwhelming, so I phoned Alan.

"Hi, it's Steve Schwartz. Did you get those two new endings to the story?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"Well, Steve, I found them both equally bad, but I think we may be able to use one."

On Saturday, Aug. 4, 1986, "The Further Adventures of Herb" appeared on page 46 of Barron's, and a whole new chapter in my life was launched. How many people can say that their hero, idol, and muse became, for a time, their mentor?

Alan is the last of my Saturday Boys. As a kid, John Wayne was my Saturday matinee symbol of everything that America stood for. Frank Sinatra was, and still is, Mr. Saturday Night. And from the time I arrived on Wall Street in 1966, until his last column, Alan Abelson is, and will always be, the uncompromising and incorruptible Mr. Saturday Morning.

Jeffrey A. Legum Private investor

One thing I can say about Alan Abelson that wasn't true of other financial journalists is that, if he printed an opinion with which you disagreed, or published an article that you found biased to some degree, he was willing to modify his opinion—if a change was warranted.

I first learned this in 1973 when Palmer Weber, a former stockbroker at Troster Singer, set up a meeting between Alan and me so that I could express my disagreement with a negative article about banks, which had appeared in Barron's. I owned 3% of the stock in a Baltimore bank named Equitable Bank Corp. I strongly believed that my bank wasn't guilty of the same sins as the banks portrayed in the Barron's article. Alan heard me out and, after some minor teasing, spoke to the president and treasurer of Equitable. I was surprised to read in Up & Down Wall Street a few days later that "not all dogs have fleas." Alan had reached the conclusion, which he expressed in print, that Equitable shouldn't be tarred with the same brush as lesser banks. I was also happy to see the stock price recover.

I remained a friend of Alan's for 40 years and would have lunch with him from time to time. When he started to write his column from home, we still remained in touch by telephone. His wit never diminished, nor did his ability to craft clever sentences.

Alan Abelson was, without doubt, the best and most capable financial reporter in the U.S. His investigative reporting and sharp mind saved investors billions of dollars.

I will miss him greatly.

FROM READERS

Jay Diamond

Writing until the very end. That's the way I want to go out.

Everyone will comment on how Alan's love of words and wordplay made him the archetype of the acerbic financial critic (often imitated, never duplicated), but what I loved about his columns was the way he elevated a deep bench of hard-working, nonconformist analysts, economists, and researchers to stardom, whether it was someone from a big firm, like Ed Yardeni, or those who owned and operated their own shop, like Stephanie Pomboy, Fred Hickey, Jim Bianco, Marc Faber, Ed Hyman, or Charles Biderman.

What Abelson showed the average investor is that good ideas and sharp thinking aren't the exclusive province of your broker's research arm. Alan and his column, populated by often semi-obscure but brilliant, vitally important voices on the markets, showed his readers that good contrarian thinking and writing could come from anywhere.

Ellen Adelson

I am so saddened by the loss of Alan Abelson as a weekly friend, advisor, and wit. He is the only columnist I have ever known who can tell you in no uncertain terms that you are being screwed royally and make you laugh at the same time. There is no one else like him, and I will miss him terribly.

Michael G. Boulegeris

While a cadet at the United States Military Academy I began reading the insightful weekly columns by Alan Abelson, all the while making my initial novice investments. The critical analysis in Up & Down Wall Street was inspiring in a surprisingly unique way, tempering my youthful speculative eagerness but also whetting my appetite as a young stakeholder teeming with idealism. Decades later, my Saturday morning regimen still includes Barron's, along with a cup of coffee at the breakfast table.

In hindsight, my attraction to the colorful missives of Abelson was that his discerning journalistic compass always pointed toward fairness and equity. I am reminded of the Cadet Prayer at West Point, which implores soldiers to "know no fear when truth and right are in jeopardy." This verse precisely relates the character of Alan Abelson. His moral courage and veracity will be sorely missed.

Robert Tevis

For the past few months, I have opened my Barron's to Up & Down Wall Street to see if Alan was back. Each time I was disappointed to see the phrase "Alan Abelson is on leave." This meant another week without both his sophisticated wit and his unique insights. I am so sorry to hear that his leave has been permanently extended.

His words often pierced the thin veneer of many of our leaders and experts. He helped us see the humor in both our successes and our failures. I am glad his column was always found in the first pages of Barron's because it always gave me perspective on the rest of the issue and on the markets in general. I am sorry that his next assignment will not include writing for all of us who appreciated him and his work.

Farewell, Alan.

Bill Smead

Alan Abelson wrote the most entertaining puns and provided the driest humor I have read in 33 years in the investment business. His piercing missives will be missed.

Larry Casper

Great writer, witty, skeptical, and not boring! He taught at City College when I had him as an instructor in the early 1970s. Great class, great experience. He will be missed.

Ronald Goldberg

His writing will be sorely missed. Every week, his column contained three or four SAT words that I shared with my daughters. They all went on to good colleges and now have very successful careers. Thanks, Alan!

Renee Bouck

I have been reading Alan Abelson's column in Barron's since the early 1980s, when gold was at an historic high and Treasury bills were approaching a 20% yield. This is when I began my career in financial futures, moving away from a liberal arts and literature background. Alan's brilliant writing revealed insights into the investment world that I now see as part of my education. His sense of humor, generous with wordplay, brought truth to light by exposing the great paradoxes that the alchemy of finance can create.

His gift for critical thinking has influenced my investment process. I will miss him! All the best to those he has mentored to fill his shoes. My hope is that you continue to shine a light on truth just as brightly and in the same disarmingly funny way.

Bob Kargenian

A few years ago, I was on a Saturday evening red-eye flight from Los Angeles to New York. It was probably 1 a.m., and the plane was quiet, with most passengers sleeping. I, however, was reading Alan Abelson's column, as I have done most every Saturday for many years. Despite the quiet, I burst out laughing at what was obviously one of Alan's many witty comments.

I remember thinking right then—I need to send this man a thank-you note, and let him know how much I appreciate what he does every week, making others' lives better. I painfully regret that I never sent that note. I did not know Alan, but I certainly loved him, and what he brought to us for many years on the pages of Barron's.

Steve Karew

I had the pleasure to assist Alan on occasion when I started working for Dow Jones at 22 Cortland St. in New York and later at the World Financial Center. I worked in the data center. In 1983, we installed and administered computer systems and networks to publish the Wall Street Journal and Barron's. We helped them make the transition into the "digital era" or so we thought. Many editors did not readily accept the changes, upgrades, and growing pains associated with changing technologies and their anomalies. But it seemed Alan welcomed changes and took them in stride.

Vince Celano

As I awoke at 6:45 today and turned on Bloomberg, the first headline I read was that Alan had passed away at 87; this brought tears to my eyes, despite the absolutely beautiful, sunny spring morning. As a Barron's subscriber since 1984 (the year I graduated from college) and a reader of Alan since then, I can say with certainty that there will never, ever be another Alan Abelson! While I disagreed with his viewpoints at times and didn't always follow his advice, I will admit that during the dot.com craze he consistently provided sound counsel, making those frequent parallels to 1929. And, soon enough, another market crash began in March 2000—much as he had said. In his columns during the late 1990s, it was as if he was speaking directly to my consciousness. His masterful, philosophical, always amusing, mind-curling Up & Down Wall Street column will never be lost in my memory. He taught us not just about Wall Street and the market, but about life, for those of us lucky enough to realize this! I will never forget his teachings.

It's now Barron's challenge to maintain his legacy; it will surely be impossible to replace him.

Angelo Faenza

We lost one of the greatest financial journalists of our time. I looked forward to his column every week and appreciated how he dug in behind the numbers (i.e., when the employment report would come out, Alan would have the data showing what it really meant). He was smart, consistent, witty, and a defender of the "average" person, and we will dearly miss him.

Joshua M. Brown

He was one of the greatest market commentators, financial writers, and teachers in the history of Wall Street. There will be many more eulogies for and remembrances of Alan, I am sure of it.

There was more truth in Abelson's curmudgeonly satire than you'll find in all the research and rantings produced by the Wall Street machine that he covered so skeptically and humorously. He said what he thought and taught us all to think critically, especially when it counted—in times of wild-eyed, dangerous overconfidence.

Rest in Peace, Alan, and thanks for being an early influence on a whippersnapper like me. You can't imagine how much I've learned from your writing over the past 15 years.

Bruce D. Schwartz

Throughout the 40 years I've been reading Barron's, due to Alan Abelson's extraordinary usage of the lexicon I have always kept a dictionary close at hand. It was not unusual that his writing was so perspicacious and cleverly amusing that at times I found myself appreciating how well it was crafted while still in the process of reading it! Moreover, I learned from what he had to say and would willingly credit him for helping to shape a contrarian approach to investing that has augured well for me over these decades. Thank you, Alan Abelson, for expanding my vocabulary, my mind, and, now and then, my wallet. You will be missed.

Aurel deHollan

Hello, you ink-stained Barron's editors! Since 1970, carefully perusing Up & Down Wall Street has been a regular weekend activity for me. Alan's column—with his wry humor, witty wordplay, and varying levels of skepticism about the denizens of Wall Street—was always a good read.

As for taking his investment advice: If bearish, you could ignore it safely, but not so the few times he turned bullish. To me his greatest call was back in the summer of 1982, when correctly interpreting Volcker's actions, he predicted a long upward move in the Dow, in effect calling the start of a 25-year bull market. Of course, being Alan, he couldn't stay on the bull side very long.

After almost a lifetime columnist/reader relationship, of course I'll miss him. Why doesn't someone publish an e-book containing every one of his columns?

Theo Karantsalis

For decades, I woke up early every Saturday morning to read Alan Abelson's column. He was fearless, smart, and ethical. As a news reporter, Alan inspired me to push beyond my comfort zone, never take shortcuts and, at times, be playful with words to entertain the reader and make a point. His work was the high mark for financial journalism.

God bless you, sir.

Marshall Sale

I read Alan Abelson's column for over 40 years.

Every Saturday, I would learn four or five new words. Sometimes, I would think that these words were placed there like a stop sign to make me sit back and reread the paragraph. These "new" words would then be listed on my calendar for the next week.

His ability to lean against the wind at the end of his column brought a little more perspective to the prior week's numbers or political events. Humorous tones kept me smiling even when the events were serious or begged for additional comments. A true tocsin.

John E. Frenett

It always seemed as if Alan Abelson was writing for people like me, a "Mr. Average" father of three, trying to manage a family's financial assets. He informed people who were, in geographic terms, hundreds and thousands of miles from Wall Street. Many in that same group, a galaxy away from deal-making, insider buying, and hallway conversations, benefited from Abelson's artful prose.

Had we readers who grew up eagerly awaiting Up & Down Wall Street been offered a wish, we'd have asked that Abelson live at least another 30 years. Our children would then have had a chance to learn from him.

Bob Lawton

One of the best writers of the current era, period! His combination of humor, sarcasm, and skepticism brought a perennially dry subject to life each week. It is ironic that God chose to call him on a week the Dow was making historic highs. Maybe He was concerned about His portfolio?

Adrian Anderson

I have had a fairly successful investment career and now run my own investment firm. I began my long love affair with investing by reading Alan's columns in the late 1970s. Alan had guided me through inflation and the gas lines of the 1970s and prepared us for the great bull market of the 1980s. I continued to read throughout the 1990s and the past decade. Now I have lost my market compass and a very unique prism through which I view investments and life.

Rest in peace, my friend. I will truly miss you and your work. It changed me for the better.

Don Mulvey

I am not ashamed to admit I cried at the loss of Alan Abelson. My wife and I started our weekends by reading his column. Though we never met him, we felt he was a friend of ours, and we will miss our dear friend terribly.

Sam Rosengarten

Ross Margolies

I view myself as a self-taught investor; however, Barron's has been my most important textbook. I started reading it in high school in the 1970s, and Alan Abelson's column was always the first thing I read. It had content and enjoyment, investment nuggets and ideas, valuable lessons and perspectives from top investors.

I still use his adage describing the risks of short selling when I explain it to people ("He who sells what isn't hissun, buys it back or goes to prison"). Most of all Alan had a philosophy of healthy skepticism, which is the first and most important lesson any investor needs to learn. Alan's writings have helped me and countless others become better investors, and he made it interesting along the way.

Joseph F. Gelband

I miss the sunshine that he brought into every Saturday morning.

Marc McIntosh

It's college graduation season, and as a professor of finance, I look back at one of the great pieces of advice I got as a senior, just before I graduated and embarked on a career in finance, from one of my accounting professors at DePaul University: "Read Barron's religiously, every week," he recommended. I followed his advice, albeit with mixed results, but I viewed Alan Abelson as one of the great writers of cutting-edge topics in finance...a true lighthouse in a stormy sea we call the stock market.

Leontine V.L. Radler

I was dumbfounded to read in this morning's Barron's that Alan Abelson died at age 87; I had no idea he was that old.

I am a woman investor and have enjoyed his columns for years. In fact, I once had an argument with my husband about Alan Abelson, since my husband is not interested in the market and insists that the very best journalists are sportswriters. What nonsense! Abelson was the best, and I already miss his columns.

Lloyd McGlincy

As an ambitious, young financial advisor, I read Up & Down Wall Street every weekend as I prepped for the week ahead. Like many, I was enthralled with Alan Abelson's ability to cut through the noise and get to the real issues, while providing a giggle or two. In the late 1980s, I not only learned he was the featured speaker of the Economic Club of Indianapolis, but that I would provide him with a ride to the airport following his speech. Imagine the thrill!

Although I do not recall the specifics of his speech, I will never forget the 20-minute car ride to the airport. He queried me on my favorite stock pick, and I was ready. Arrow Electronics was my choice, and I provided the supporting background. Naturally, Alan was skeptical and kindly cross-examined me with the same cynicism he displayed each week in his column. Fortunately for my clients, the stock went up, which made me proud. Maybe he noticed.

Thanks, Alan, for all the great columns, and an enjoyable conversation. You will be missed by many.

Olivier Carre

I have been reading Barron's for 15 years or so, and I have always relished Alan's column. I noted that he was an educator to many a Barron's staff member and I can add, he surely was to his readers, and not only financially. His writing was amazing. I have yet so much to learn.

He sure saved me from the 2008-2009 crash; he was the only one sounding a note of caution. A lighthouse to so many. I knew, as did many a reader, that something was not right once I read that "Alan is on vacation this week." Well, that's a flag if there ever was one! He is deeply missed, my deepest condolences to his family.

John Santosuosso

Alan, there are thousands of us you never knew, but we will always remember you. You taught us to think. You taught us to question. You were generous with your wisdom, and you never forgot to make us smile. You may be gone, but there will be times in the future when we will remember what you so generously gave us, and we will recall just how much we are indebted to you.

Patrick M. Hannigan

For as long as I can remember, every Saturday morning I get up early, drive to the local grocery store, buy my Barron's, come home, brew a pot of coffee and then read Alan Abelson's column out loud to my wife.

Around our house, we call Saturday "Barron's Day."

I have saved or transcribed many of Alan's most quotable writings that have nothing to do with finance, but much to do with life. I have often sent these observations to people who appreciate the wit, the insight, and the creativity that poured from Alan's mind.

He will be sorely missed.

Isaac Leon Kaplan

I have been reading Alan Abelson since the 1990s. I am now 93. I know my remaining years will be less rewarding without his journalistic presence.

W. Murphy Weirich

I was very saddened to hear of Alan Abelson's departure from our earthly bounds. Alan's wit was the first thing I ever read at Barron's, in the mid-1980s and I have been an Abelson and Barron's aficionado ever since! I miss his wit already. Like many, I too miss his probative and insightful take-no-hostages journalistic style, combined with his fabulous humorous prose.

In this day and age of jaded yellow journalism, he will remain a beacon and example of the truth for others to emulate in their own writing Thank you, Alan, for all the great years. Bon voyage.

Diane Alter

The financial world lost one of its greatest storytellers with the passing of Alan Abelson. A true master of the craft, he often made it clear that truth is indeed stranger than fiction. He will be sorely missed, yet he leaves behind a name and legacy worth remembering.

Bruce Fisher

What a treasure he was! When I was starting in grad school and then my business career, there were two "must-do's"—watch Louis Rukeyser on Friday night to get the conventional wisdom, then read Alan on Saturdays to get the unconventional, and therefore more insightful, wisdom. His writing was incisive, naturally skeptical (a good thing—before that phrase got co-opted) and immensely entertaining.

I remember the first time I saw him on TV, with Deborah Norville on the early-morning show. I was traveling, hadn't slept well, and had left the set on. A voice I'd never heard before on TV was speaking—and the comments were so trenchant, so on-point, so dryly hilarious that I sat bolt upright to see who was saying heady things about business, human character, and why it all matters, and then why it doesn't. I had no idea at first who it was, but of course it was Alan. He was so great, it obviously couldn't last. But I would wake up early just to catch his segment.

You're right that print journalists owe him a huge debt of gratitude, but so do TV ones—Mark Haines, Joe Kernen, and others with that sharp mind and tongue are direct descendants. I would love to read and see some of his greatest hits in commentary. Any plans to publish a collection? Any chance of seeing his TV appearances again? That would be the greatest service you could do for those too young to remember what an impact great writing and thinking can have.

Anthony Lew

Journalism, especially that of the financial persuasion, has lost a giant. Although I didn't always agree with Alan Abelson's scrutiny of subjects past or his usual pessimistic bent on current affairs, I always appreciated his insight, candor, and, of course, wit. His cynicism served only to enhance, not detract from, readers' ability to gain insight into the truth.I will miss him dearly and look forward to Barron's continuing the excellence provided by the guiding light of his legacy.

Kevin Knight

I'm sorry to say that I have only been a subscriber to Barron's for eight years. But over the course of that time, I have become a faithful fan of your magazine. One major reason for this was Alan's column. No matter what was going on—on Wall Street or in the business community—I could always count on Alan to make sense of it. His witty style of writing and his ability to put things in perspective (especially when the bulls or bears were running) was a pleasure to read. He will be greatly missed.

Judith Paulus

Alan Abelson was the best writer

Barron's had.

Now no more.

Too bad.

Charles Roberts

How fortunate we are to have known Alan Abelson. I have been a reader of Barron's since 1966 and don't remember having missed any of his articles.

It takes an optimist to make money; it takes a skeptic to keep money. I am greatly indebted to Abelson for the latter. He always reminded me to look over my shoulder and be cautious about the future. He pointed out the risks that were not presented by the banks, brokers, corporations, or the government. He helped me to keep most of the money that I made. No one else did that.

Besides giving a different perspective, his wit made his prose delightful to read. Abelson said markets don't repeat exactly, but they do rhyme.

Randall Rose

From the mid-1980s until the mid-1990s I managed Tamarisk Partners, a long/short hedge fund. In those years, I regularly spoke with Alan Abelson about the economy, stock market, and individual stocks. To me, a young hedge-fund manager newly arrived to New York from the Midwest, he was incredibly encouraging and supportive. For a new kid on the block, it was a wonderful privilege, and great fun, to share investment ideas with Alan. I learned a great deal from him.

He was deeply insightful in his understanding of equity markets and asked the best questions, always going to the heart of the investment idea. Of course, he was an expert on human nature and its foibles. He could not tolerate the fraud, crook, or huckster, and he worked tirelessly to expose them. He had no patience for the pretentious or the blowhard.

More than anything, he was a man of uncommon integrity. A gentleman of courageous character whose intelligence, goodwill, and endearing wit will not be forgotten.

Thank you, Alan.

Charles Boorady

I have been a reader of Alan Abelson and Barron's for about 20 years.

If life gave me time to read just one article each week, it would be Alan's. The content was always relevant; but sometimes was incidental to why I read Alan's work. For me, it was a weekly lesson in how to wrap critical thinking and humor into a good investment recommendation; and how to write in a way that pulls the reader, willingly and enjoyably, to the end of an article.

Although I never met Alan, I feel as though I knew him through his work. I will continue to remember him each week through the great legacy of writers who worked with him at Barron's.

Brian Sozzi

As a rookie in financial services I was repeatedly told to read the Wall Street Journal and various timeless investing books. You never knew when reading a story would lead to a new investment idea, hopefully that only your eyes and imagination uncovered. However, as I started to make my personal journey into financial journalism years ago, there was only one place to look for guidance: Alan Abelson's Saturday morning column in Barron's.

With coffee in hand and a notepad nearby, every weekend for about 10 years I would dutifully get lost in Alan's thoughts on the markets and his general wisdom about life. I learned new words (yes, I also had the thesaurus across from me). I learned new investing concepts. But most importantly, I learned what the gold standard was in financial journalism. The ability to talk about complicated financial topics in a way that is entertaining and of the highest integrity is a gift, and an art that unfortunately is becoming scarce.

Although I was never able to meet Alan, I felt in a way that each weekend he was training me, and reminding me of the gold standard just when I thought I had figured out the secret sauce. I will greatly miss spending those Saturday mornings with him.

Joe Buhler

I wanted to add my own voice to the hundreds, no thousands, of comments you inevitably have received on the passing of Alan Abelson.

For the past few years, he was for me the required first read when opening Barron's. I regret not having discovered him much earlier and will miss his insights and wisdom. He was a rare voice in today's cacophony of opinions and one many a cut above the rest.

Alan Tripp

I am 95 years old and, with rare exception, I read Alan Abelson's columns every week from their inception. He brought a unique, wry perspective to investment commentary, combining the factual with the farcical. And I expect you will find that he is irreplaceable.

Dennis Butler

Alan Abelson has been a fixture of Wall Street ever since I entered the business 30 years ago. During that time, numerous readers voiced disapproval of his "negativism." I, however, found his skepticism to be delightful, and a useful antidote to the constant barrage of bullish commentary emanating from the investment industry. His writing style served as a model for my own modest communications, which, I am honored to say, Abelson found it appropriate to comment on more than once in his column (not always positively).

I will miss that occasional feedback from a master.

Elizabeth Gulevich

I learned so much from reading his articles, and his wit and satire were beyond compare. I will miss his column greatly. R.I.P., Alan, from a reader for many years.

Maynard Hirshon

I have been worried for weeks, not seeing Alan Abelson's column, which I read thoroughly, and frequently (in writing) disagreed with vociferously. I now feel guilty for doing so in print. I will miss his wit. At my age (82), I will likely not be too long in following him. One of the liabilities of being old is that people that you admire die. R.I.P., Alan.

David Julian

I only started reading Barron's in 2007. I always looked forward to my Saturday morning coffee and Alan's column. Every year my only request for a Christmas gift is my Barron's subscription. I am not a finance professional, but love to read the witty, intelligent, yet simple and concise articles.

It's clear he had a very positive impact on many writers, readers, and investors.

I feel fortunate that I was able to read his work for 6 years.

Thank you, Alan. You helped ignite my passion for business news and economics.

Charles Moroni Jr.

When I was a young investor, I was first drawn to Barron's because of its unique size and shape.

With my weekly readings I was amazed at Alan's wit and intelligence. I needed a dictionary and three or four readings to fully understand his intentions.

He has helped me to understand the nature of the market and many other things. I always told my wife that when the world was finally at peace, Alan would be the one to write the declaration of peace.

Peter O'Brien

For years, I looked forward to going to sleep Fridays knowing that I would wake Saturday a little wiser and in a good mood after reading Alan Abelson's column. What a talented fellow he was. Over the weekend, I would often discuss what I'd read with my neighbor, as we are both decade-plus subscribers. And without fail, Alan would be the first topic of morning conversation.

"Have you read Abelson yet? was the way each weekend began, with a sly grin on our faces. I will truly miss this Will Rogers-Warren Buffett-Walter Cronkite masterpiece all rolled into one fine human being. Thank you, Alan Abelson, for the start of many wonderful weekends!

Govi Reddy

I am a loyal subscriber to Barron's, and every Saturday for decades I looked forward to reading the Up & Down Wall Street column. It may sound quirky, but during all my travels abroad, for weeks at a time and over decades, my wife knew not to throw either Barron's or the Wall Street Journal into the recycling bin, for she knew how very much on my return I would enjoy reading up on the columns by Alan Abelson, and on the WSJ editorials.

Alan Abelson had the flair, the wit, the mischievous and rightful sarcasm, the daring and unwavering skepticism to deal with the self-interested experts on Wall Street. I, like many other Barron's subscribers, will miss reading his brilliant and creative writing and his brand of refreshingly dry humor.

My life is richer for having had the privilege of reading and learning from this wonderful wise human being. He will be dearly missed, and my Saturdays will not be filled with as much anticipation as in the past.

Thank you, Barron's for giving us the once-in-a-lifetime gift of Alan Abelson.

William M. Singer

I am very sad to learn that Alan Abelson has passed away.

I never met Abelson, but I read him religiously. In the late summer and the fall of 2007, with the stock market soaring, Alan was writing often about subprime mortgages, particularly about the exposure of large financial institutions to such "assets." He saw an impending crisis, with profound effects on security markets of all kinds. I especially remember one of his columns that appeared in the fall. He ended it with a brief paragraph, that I reproduce here in its entirety: SELL!

I was impressed, and I sold. Stock markets rose for a while, then gently declined; and then, as everyone knows, totally crashed. I was high and dry because I had listened to Alan Abelson. I lost almost nothing.

Of course, Alan remained bearish for many months afterwards (could he be described as a perma-bear or maybe a perma-skeptic?). He was bearish when the market bottomed in March 2009, and remained bearish all through the spectacular recovery of the next couple of years. So did I, until fairly recently, and so I missed much of that market rise.

I don't blame Alan for that miss. I am responsible for my own decisions. And, had it not been for him, I would surely have ridden the market down through 2008, and sold in desperation at the bottom. Today my IRA and 403-B are in good condition, and I can look forward to an adequately funded retirement. This is because I read Alan Abelson's columns.

Harvey R. Tuck

I have been reading Barron's for 60 years. I'm not sure how long I have been a subscriber, but it has been a long time. When Barron's arrives I separate the sections. Market Week is first read, back to front.

Then it is off to the main section. Again it is back to front, and there I am at Up & Down Wall Street. Alan Abelson's column would influence my thoughts for the next week. Usually the message was bearish and negative, but Alan left you feeling positive.

Richard Tuggle

Alan, Now that you and Louis Rukeyser will be side-by-side in heaven...here's your chance to be friends.

Jeffrey Vogel

The world is a little less sensible today, without Alan Abelson's column to look forward to each Saturday. As an individual investor, I deeply appreciated his opinion and comments, AA was one of the few who wasn't a cheering squad for the Wall Street selling machine, and his wit, wisdom, and courage to call it as it is will be sorely missed.

Phil Wing

As a young Brit, I joined the investment-banking industry at the ripe old age of 19 in the London offices of Dean Witter Reynolds. My first task was to try and understand how Wall Street worked, which of course was entirely alien to most folks in the old country, let alone a fresh-faced stick insect who was still officially studying fine arts for his degree!

I was directed to read Alan's column and from that day in September 1983, he was part of my weekly routine and subsequently part of my life. I never met him or even knew what he looked like, but I knew just from what he wrote and the way he wrote it that he was a great man with wisdom/insight/humor and, above all, the ability to laugh at this ridiculous industry…the people in it and consequently himself.

I, for one, will miss him greatly.

Joel Wulff

I read with great sadness of the passing of Alan Abelson. I've subscribed to Barron's for decades and often said that Alan's opening paragraphs were worth the price of a subscription all by themselves. This is a great loss for all who knew him, whether face-to-face or via his writings. I take great comfort in the information you shared about the folks he mentored who remain on your staff. It won't be the same, but his heritage will live on, and that is no small thing.

He will not "rest in peace." That is not his nature. He will continue to discuss and debate on a higher plane.

Jerry Helzner

When I was just out of college hanging out in brokerage offices and studying the stock market in the 1970s, I happened to notice that a gem of a medical-supply company called Sherwood Medical was a wholly owned subsidiary of the sports and recreation giant Brunswick.

As a regular reader of Barron's, I sent off a note to Alan Abelson mentioning that I thought Sherwood Medical wasn't being adequately valued by being somewhat buried in the Brunswick portfolio of recreation-related companies.

To my surprise, Alan actually looked into the situation, decided I had made a valid point, and wrote a couple of paragraphs on Sherwood Medical in his next column.

The recognition that Alan would look at ideas that came from almost anywhere led me to later submit ideas for articles to Alan, Jim Meagher, and then Rich Rescigno. A number of my ideas were accepted, and I became a fairly regular contributor to Barron's for a number of years.

Though I have had a decent career in journalism, the thing that I most credit Alan Abelson (and Barron's) with is being so open to ideas for interesting articles even if the ideas didn't come from a traditional source. I don't believe that any other publication with the prestige and reputation of Barron's would be so open to new voices.

Daniel Sumit Ghosal

During the summer of 2006, in an effort to place more attention on my personal investments, contextualizing global financial dynamics, I sifted through six financial magazines until I stumbled upon Barron's. Overall, I found it a great periodical, but the most addicting and motivating aspect of perusing it was reading Alan Abelson's Up & Down Wall Street. Indifferent to political skews, and with a caustic but subtle sense of humor, he managed to educate readers on the broad economic realities.

After chasing Barron's (a scarce commodity in my neighborhood at that time), I couldn't comprehend how anyone could be so articulate and sound so sensible and still enable readers to writhe in giggles. The past few weeks were the saddest, since I didn't notice any columns by him. Alan's columns will be missed profoundly, but hopefully another writer will emulate his literary style and doctrine.

Julius Fazekas

Through the past 30 or so years, I've read many financial articles and publications, some more worthwhile than others. I must say that Alan was by far my favorite author, not necessarily because I agreed with his financial thoughts, but for his sense of humor and wordsmithery.

Financial, like technical, writing can provide difficult challenges or wonderful opportunities, Alan always seemed to find the latter. His wit will be sorely missed.

Stu Haas

Wow, what a loss!

The highest compliment I can give Alan Abelson is that, even though I disagreed with many of his premises and predictions, I greatly respected his opinion, and read him each week without fail. In a media world beset by an overwhelming cacophony of faceless choices and voices, I had genuine brand affinity for Abelson, and, in turn, for Barron's.

Gentlemen, you have very large shoes to fill indeed.

Robert Lipton

I read Barron's online obituary of Alan Abelson. I have enjoyed his columns since starting to read the magazine and have frequently found them the highlight of the issue. Amidst all the ballyhoo, it was good to know that there would be at least one entertainingly written, well-researched piece telling us that the emperor has no clothes.

He will be hard to replace, and my weekends will have one less pleasure to anticipate.

Steven H. Schow

Alan Abelson was my favorite sesquipedalian!

Peter Schwabe

I returned to Barron's last year after more than a decade's hiatus. Knowing Alan Abelson's general vintage, I was surprised to see him still on the page. That the quality of his research and writing hadn't changed was inspiring, and it remained as rewarding until he left.

Robert Qualls

Most of the time when I read a columnist's musings, I find myself in general agreement or disagreement, but seldom do I wish that I knew the writer personally so that I could follow up and learn more. But such was often the case with Alan Abelson.

He seemed to have been one who truly did well by doing good, proving that some people still succeed in their profession because of, rather than despite, being good and moral. His columns were often controversial, but seldom unfair. If anything, he sometimes gave miscreants the benefit of the doubt, removing the benefit only when the doubt was already out of the building.

I recall the memorable ending to The Silence of the Lambs, when the redoubtable Sir Anthony Hopkins' evil Dr. Hannibal Lecter tells Jody Foster's Clarice Starling, "The world's a better place because you're in it." Well, now the world is a lesser place, as it is without Alan Abelson.

Paul Milbauer

In December 1987, I had just published my first report as a newly minted stock analyst when I received a phone call from Alan Abelson. He asked if I would convert my report into an article for Barron's. I was thrilled, and of course complied, but I was also amazed that he was interested in the views of a complete unknown.

Looking back, while I was right to be thrilled, perhaps I shouldn't have been all that surprised. I came to learn that for Alan, the quality of one's analysis was what mattered, not the fame or status of the proponent.

When appropriate, he was happy to promote or publish the views of a comparative unknown, just as he was willing to publicly challenge the views of a misguided big shot. I'll certainly miss Alan, but hopefully his successors at Barron's will keep this quality of his alive.

Leo Melamed

Every plaudit I have read showering praise on Alan Abelson—and there have been many by many qualified and capable voices—is eminently correct. And yet I have a nagging sense of not being satisfied. And perhaps I never will be.

Perhaps no words will ever be found to adequately gratify those of us who could not begin their Saturday morning without a healthy dose of Abelson to put the events of the previous week, or month, or year in proper perspective. It is not that we always, always agreed with Alan's views, although surely we did ninety nine percent of the time, it is just that he could, as no one else, create an allegory, use a metaphor, make a comparison, debunk a myth, accentuate a point, put into words, some of which we had to look up, exactly what we had thought, or what we had neglected to think. How then shall we proceed with our lives without his pithy and remarkably accurate voice confirming, or changing, or guiding our thoughts? We have no answer.

Lawrence T. Reese

He educated those of us who, by conventional standards, were considered well-educated.

Tom Kawabe

I must confess that I have been addicted to "Up & Down Wall Street" because of Alan Abelson's in-depth analysis of financial malpractice, and his extraordinary literary style.

For some unknown reason I always pictured Abelson as looking and conducting himself like the Hollywood actor Ed Asner. Ed would look much like Alan if we could get him to mimic Alan's smile on page 13 of the May 13 issue of Barron's. In any event, we might treat them as brothers, each excelling in his chosen career.

Carlos A. Figueroa

A giant has fallen. His wit and his insight into financial markets made this heartless industry an enjoyable experience in our human journey. His humor lifted my spirit even when markets gave me heartburn. May God welcome Alan in His arms.

A. Michael Lipper

Barron's has always been skeptical of the crowd's enthusiasm, but Alan combined skepticism with both wit and wisdom. As his daughter has said, he will be missed. I will miss him even though it was difficult to accept all of his views, particularly his political views.

Willard Eisner

Looking forward to Barron's and Alan Abelson's column for some 20 years was a weekly ritual in our household. The man was as brilliant a journalist as he was witty. I needed a dictionary on hand when reading his column at all times. His vocabulary was so vast it was beyond my comprehensive ability. Nevertheless, It was quite an educational experience and very gratifying.We will very much miss Alan Abelson.

Randall Lambert

I am a speed reader, but I always read every word in Alan Abelson's column.

Rob Jorgensen

Alan was the friend who I only met in the pages of Barron's every Saturday morning. He inspired me to be sound on the facts, stay sharp on the issues, and always be witty.

Randall Forsyth, you have been trained by the best, and will do just fine carrying Alan's torch. And since we all know Alan is currently reviewing my tribute, I hope I have been grammatically correct.

Jerry Zbydnowski

You have lost a great icon of journalism. I have been a long-time subscriber to the Wall Street Journal and Barron's. Their writers' great investment information and financial insights have been very rewarding to me. But Alan gave me the fortitude to keep questioning the end result. His editorial comments on the news of the week and his prolific comments always kept me on my guard.

My salute to an extraordinary journalist!

David Wild

This is truly sad news. The first column I would read in Barron's was always Alan's. His unique ability to make a mockery of all politicians and seeing the business world with a special eye was awesome. I remember last month when he was "on leave." I was so looking forward to reading his next article upon his return. This is truly a huge loss to all the business world. My condolences.

Marvin Schildkraut

For over 20 years, a close friend whom I never met entertained and advised me weekly, as I readUp & Down Wall Street during breakfast. I cried when I read Alan Abelson passed away.

John C. Goodrich

Many thanks for your tributes to Alan Abelson. Alan's column was the first thing I read whenever Barron's appeared. I enjoyed his witty style and seeing how far I could get before reaching for my dictionary! Where can you ever hope to find talent like that again? Alan obviously studied and earned a genuine education a time when colleges were still institutions of higher leaning, not liberal, left-wing politically correct socialist hotbeds.

Geoff Glatt

I have read Barron's since I was a mid-teen. Alan's sarcastic wit made the vicissitudes of the Street and our leaders come to life.

While living in London in the early 1980s, I read Alan's column lambasting, weekly, a small banana republic in Central America. I had just spent five-plus years in said republic, and based on my unique experiences there I submitted an article to Alan. Perhaps it grabbed his attention because of the postmark from England. In any event, he must have played some role in getting the piece published, and along the way changed the title ("Don't Cry for Costa Rica") to reflect a song from the hit Broadway show Evita of the time.

Alan's column was always the perfect opening act for the "rag" that is Barron's. I have read the paper now for very nearly 50 years. He will, most definitely, be missed.

Thomas Kunz

Well, I knew this day would eventually come, the passing of one of the best journalists, Alan Abelson.

My first introduction to Alan was shortly after minting an engineering degree at a midwest college in 1974, but my relationship with Barron's and Alan really started to blossom in the 1980s.

Obviously, I have been a longtime reader of this publication, and will continue to read it, but I will miss the antics, theories, postulates, and wit that only Alan could deliver.

Mike Primc

Reading Alan Abelson's column was always the highlight of Barron's. His commentary provided a good laugh, especially when it was directed toward politicians. I suspect his time in Iowa helped his perspective.

After all, is not a wise man he who sees reality through many different lenses? Alan certainly had it. He will be missed.

Stephen Curran

I am a relatively new reader of Barron's, having subscribed about two years ago. Very quickly a new routine was established in my household. I would begin each Saturday morning by reading Up & Down Wall Street. I would often laugh out loud and recite several items to my wife from the article—both humorous lines as well as the genuine insights that the articles often contained....

I submit this as a tribute to Alan Ableson from someone who became engaged by his more recent articles. He was definitely not trading on his past or "coasting" when his prose and wit reeled me in, for I knew nothing of his past.

Alan must have been an amazing man. I was struck by the line about him in Barron's: "a life well-lived." His articles were truly an art form, and he was as engaging as ever at age 87. Saturday mornings will no longer be the same.

Michel Lahaie

I have been a subscriber for over 35 years. At the beginning, I knew so little about finance and investing that fully half of the magazine was incomprehensible to me. But Alan Abelson's column was always so witty and well-written that I kept at it and never regretted it.

I will miss my weekly dose of fine humor and wit.

Harold Klein

Sunday mornings will not be the same absent Alan Abelson's insight, wit, and timely observation of matters financial and secular. He will be sorely missed.

Robert Bilkie

As an investment professional of almost 30 years, I was a religious reader of Alan Abelson's column. If I could not get to the entire slew of articles in the magazine, I made sure I at least read his column.

Why? My mentor, Charles Ricker, a well-respected Detroit-area investment professional who died in 1987, told me on my first day of work in 1984, "Make sure you read this guy's column." That advice—along with many other gem-like morsels he imparted to me over our short working life together—has served me well.

Carlo Dall'Olmo

It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of Alan Abelson. My Saturday mornings will never be the same.

After years of deftly pointing out and guiding us through the economic counterparts and trappings of the Lotus eaters, the Sirens, Scyla and Charybdis, and the Cyclops, Alan is undoubtedly enjoying an afternoon libation of nectar with his immortal friends.

Thank you, Alan. Hope to share a drink with you some day.

Steven Finger

I wrote the following this morning to my wife, who is tending to her 90-year-old father in Minnesota:

"I just finished reading Randall Forsyth's tribute to Alan Abelson in Barron's. Surprisingly, I find myself brought to tears by the loss of this brilliant, courageous, witty man. I admired him so much. After my dad's death, he was a cross between a friend and a father figure in my often-solitary investment world. Ironically, my dad hated his columns, saying they were "too negative." I loved [Abelson's] columns. In addition, Alan's warnings were largely responsible for our keeping 78% of our retirement portfolio during the crash of 2008. And I don't know how many times I have yelled to you in another room to listen to a paragraph he wrote, because it was so clever or so right on or both. Although Mr. Abelson could be wrong, and often was, I realize how much I had grown to trust him in the increasingly untrustworthy world of finance."

Jack Ciesielski

He was one of a kind, a true Renaissance man of the markets.I admired Alan's column for years when I worked as an analyst at the Legg Mason Value Trust. When I started out on my own, I sent him a piece that I'd penned about health-care liabilities. I was shocked and thrilled when he ran it—and asked for more accounting pieces afterward.

I couldn't have had a better introduction to the press. I'll always miss his wit and sensibility—but I'm glad he imbued so much of his spirit in the rest of the Barron's staff.

Joseph Meyer

Alan Abelson's wit and probity, his way of bringing us all back down to earth.... It is his writing that introduced me to Barron's 30 years ago.

Adam Holzhauer

I was deeply saddened to read in Barron's of Alan Abelson passing . Since his last column in February, my dictionary has been gathering dust. The challenge each week to keep pace with his wit and look up the words he utilized to explain the events of the day invigorated me. He will be greatly missed. Regards from a loyal reader.

Doug Huff

Besides his witty and entertaining weekly writings in Up & Down Wall Street, what I remember most about Alan occurred in the 1970s, on CBS in a series of morning conversations he had with Connie Chung.

He would sit across from her with his relaxed, smirky demeanor, she would ask him questions, and he would respond as only Alan could. She would become so exasperated with his answers; her facial expressions said it all.

As long as these conversations took place, I would turn on the TV each morning with much excitement and anticipation to see how Alan was going to respond to Connie's questions. It was enormously entertaining. I just wish I could remember some of the topics.

Bob Misko

I lost a friend I never met.

For over 30 years I spent time, each Saturday morning, enjoying the journalistic humor and precious insights of Mr. Abelson. This morning, I cried.

A loss for all. May the peace of the Lord be with him and his family.

Joseph Strauss

I've been reading Barron's since 1963; that's a lot of years, and I'm still reading it today. The main reason was Alan Abelson, the best and wittiest financial writer I've ever read.

I lived and worked in Germany for 14 years from 1964 to 1978, and the only way then to get Barron's in a timely fashion, was to subscribe and have it sent airmail via the U.S. Postal Service. I would usually get it on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or, etc. Sometimes, I would get two copies the following week. But I didn't care.

You don't want to how much I paid for that subscription all those years, but it was worth it! I needed my Alan Abelson fix every week; unfortunately sometimes I had to settle for that fix every other week! But that was worth it, too! He was the greatest. R.I.P.

Joseph H. Miller

Dignified irreverence.

Georgi Orlov

My sincere condolences to Alan Abelson's family and friends. They lost a loved one who will be dearly missed.

Investors, too, lost someone who knew the first rule of investing very well: "Don't lose money". It was one of Abelson's strong messages to investors. I have learned to appreciate this wisdom on more than one occasion over the years. So, many thanks to Alan. I will miss his wise and well-thought-out contributions that made Barron's magazine special.

John Berry

I first endeavored—forced myself—to read Alan's column in my freshman year in college. It soon became my favorite. His insight, wit, and masterful ability to add clarity to his subject matter has endeared him to me over the years. He will be missed.

Vern Kornelsen

Considering the vast number of followers of his column, I'm sure there will be many matchless expressions of praise far more eloquent than any I could conceive.

Suffice it to say that I enjoyed and learned so much from his columns that I never ever missed reading any single one over the past six decades of my subscription! He was peerless and will be sorely, sorely missed.

Kiyoshi Williamson

My sincere condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues; I had the pleasure of reading his columns for only 25 years.

Dan Munson

Thank you for publishing all the nice tributes to, and stories about, Alan Abelson. His quip that Donald Trump "reserves minor lawsuits for children" had me laughing for five minutes.

He had fun with politicians; my favorite line of his went something like this: "In August, Washington D.C.'s resemblance to hell transcends the metaphorical."

Weekends will never be the same.

William Stein

For as long as I have been a reader, which has been a long time, I always started with Alan's column. How did he write about boring money stuff and turn it into prose and comedy with seemingly little effort? His selection of words cannot be duplicated by any writer anywhere.

I do have to say, I did get irked with him a tad since I can't ever remember when he liked a market! But what a loss, and thanks for all the great columns and memories. He leaves some very big shoes to fill.

Alan, may you rest in peace.

Michael Lavios

In 1983 I returned to college to take an investing course at night, and our professor immediately recommended several publications, but only one writer: Alan Abelson. A few days later I took his advice, and I have regularly been reading his column ever since.

Abelson's wisdom will be difficult to duplicate; his wit, impossible. The quality of information in his writing sent the message to his readers to do our homework when it came to markets as a whole and investments individually –and with side-splitting humor to boot. I never knew financial journalism could be of such an amazingly high quality until I started reading his column. I will miss his column and his insights very, very much.